Monday, August 20, 2012

Mortgage Mess Movies

On Saturday Mrs. K and I decided to watch a movie with little brother K. We looked through all of the new releases available on Dish Network (it's not mine, I swear! I feel like a high schooler whose mom found weed in the sock drawer). In the end we streamed with Netflix because we would have had to pay with Dish Network. After looking through them all, one had my attention. Margin Call. It sounded like a movie about investing and who doesn't look forward to a good investing movie? Well as it turns out Mrs. K and little bro K, to name two people. Luckily for me, one of the leading roles was played by Zachary Quinto, former star of Heroes which you'll see is included on our Netflix List. Between him and Kevin Spacey, I had enough firepower to convince Mrs. K and bro K that we should give it a shot.

I'm sure glad we did. Turns out Margin Call was about the '07-'08 financial crisis. Specifically, it is a high suspense reenactment of the 24-hour period when a financial company (loosely based on Lehman Brothers) discovers that the party is about to end. Having never read much about the '07-'08 financial crisis (I was busy buying and enjoying my first house), I found this movie to be a very interesting watch. If you're looking for someone to hate, or at least really really dislike, for the meltdown that ensued it gives you that. At the same time, it makes you sympathize with some of the other characters that seemed to be caught in the middle. Multiple times Mrs. K expressed feeling sorry for them and I have to admit I did a little bit too. However, when you hear some of the salaries, that sorrow quickly leaves. In the end, it's a very thought provoking movie that we give two thumbs up. Those thumbs are mine and Mrs. K's. Little brother K's thumb was playing games on his laptop the whole time so he does not get to judge. The movie also left us wanting to learn more about the entire mess.

So that's what we did. Mrs. K and I scoured Netflix on Sunday for streaming documentaries about the mortgage meltdown and came across The Flaw. Definitely another film I highly recommend watching. It looks back over history to attempt to determine what was the cause of the collapse. It's filled with crazy smart people (that's "really smart", not "smart but I wear underpants on my head"), as well as average homeowners that are facing foreclosure. While Margin Call makes you feel a little more sympathetic, this will bring a little more of the fury. It looks at things like predatory lending, the overuse of credit and the ever increasing income gap between the highest of the high and everyone else. If you are interested in knowing what set up the housing bubble and its burst, this film is for you. If you aren't, watch it anyway because there are plenty of other financial lessons throughout it.

Have you watched or read anything about the '07-'08 crisis that you would recommend?

10 comments:

  1. Both of those sound interesting! I'm going to check them out. I read an article recently on the worst type of mortgage loans. One of them was called Liar Loans I think and this is where none of the info you submit is verified for accuracy. Info like your pay, assets, etc...So home buyers were falsifying there pay to get more house and then filing bankruptcy when they went underwater. These people don't have my sympathy cause they knew what they were doing was wrong.

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    1. One of the people interviewed in The Flaw got a mortgage like that where they didn't verify his income. They only checked that he had a job. I agree, there's something very wrong there.

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  2. That movie sounds familiar - I think I meant to watch it at some point. Thanks for the reminder! I hadn't heard of The Flaw though - I'll have to check that out as well.

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    1. Yeah, I thought it sounded familiar too but it may have just been me reading about stock market stuff that had the term in my mind. Hope you enjoy it!

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  3. My interest in Margin Call ran as far as my understanding did; Zachary Quinto and Kevin Spacey working in a financial company. Once people were fired and some side project was brought up both understanding and interest shot down faster for me than when they supposedly thought about getting rid of Quinto in Heroes. I've not had experience enough to understand most of what went on in Margin Call; I'd prefer a movie like Limitless (which I haven't seen so I can't recommend), where stocks are involved, but so are those good ol' fashion Hollywood ideas of violence and performance enhancing drugs.

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    1. Alright, sounds like the next movie night is planned.

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  4. We don't have cable, just Netflix. I'm going to rent that this weekend!

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    1. Same here. There's so much available, we don't need anything else. Hope you enjoy it!

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  5. Are these student friendly movies? I've been looking for something interesting to show in personal finance, specifically related to home loans. Next time I have the opportunity to watch a movie I'll check one of these out.

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    1. I think The Flaw would be the more appropriate one for a personal finance class. It would bring up a number of good discussion points.

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